Tunis, 6-7 November 2019. Training workshop PRIMA – Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area is the most ambitious joint programme to be undertaken in the frame of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation. Presentation by Prof. M. Hachicha National Research Institute in Rural Engineering, Water and Forestry, University of Carthage | UCAR

1. BRINGING INNOVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY ALONG THE WHOLE
VALUE CHAIN IN THE MEDITERRANEAN TOMATO INDUSTRY –
MEDITOMATO
Type of action: Innovation Action
PRIMA Call for proposals under section Agro-Food value chain 2018 and under topic
Implementing innovation in Mediterranean Agro-food chains by smallholders and SMEs
GRANT AGREEMENT NUMBER 1831 - MEDITOMATO

2. Participant No * PI name Organisation Short
name
Country
1 (Coordinator) Guillermo Matute Gómez Ingeniería y Control Electrónico S.A. ING Spain
2 Partner 1 Inés Echeverría Goñi Centro Nacional de Tecnología y Seguridad Alimentaria CNTA Spain
3 Partner 2 Harris Moysiadis Future Intelligence Ltd FINT Greece
4 Partner 3 Melanie Speck Wuppertal Institute WUPP Germany
5 Partner 4 Patrizia Spigno ARCA 2010 a.r.l. Soc.Coop. ARCA Italy
6 Partner 5 Mohamed Hachicha Institut National de Recherche en Génie Rural, Eaux et
Forêts
INRGREF Tunisia
7 Partner 6 Nuray Akbudak Bursa Uludag University BUU Turkey
8 Partner 7 Beatriz Molina Grupo Empresarial La Caña, S.L. GLC Spain
9 Partner 8 Alberto Villar IK4 TEKNIKER TEKN Spain
10 Partner 9 Konstantinos Tsiakataras Diadikasia Business Consulting S.A. DIAD Greece
Partners

3. The main goal of MEDITOMATO is to demonstrate innovative technology solutions in three demo-sites
based on PRIMA countries covering the whole tomato value chain (from agricultural production to fresh
product, processing and distribution) enabling this sector (including SMEs and smallholders) to progress
at different levels (environmental, food quality & safety, sustainability, traceability, efficiency and water
management) contributing to a consistent rural and social development of the Mediterranean agro-food
sector supported on a quality, safe and sustainable production.
Strategic objective of MEDITOMATO

4. Objective O1: Design, engineering and assembly of in/on-line low-cost sensor system based on Visible-Near Infrared (Vis-NIR)
spectroscopy for non-destructive monitoring of tomatoes quality during plant processing process
Objective O2: Adaptation of O1 to a low-cost portable sensor system based on Vis/NIR spectroscopy for tomato maturity
monitoring during harvest and growing process.
Objective O3: Development of Internet of Things (IoT) based irrigation systems to obtain at least 10% water and energy savings
in comparison to current systems and capable of being interoperable with equipment on the ground
Objective O4: Application of IoT technologies to control fertilise applications of fertigation units.
Specific objectives related to individual innovations
Specific objectives related to integration of technologies in demonstration sites
Objective O5: Development of a global web platform aggregating O1, O2, O3, O4 as well as a food traceability system (FTS)
and the related data analysis in cloud aiming to optimize the whole value chain
Objective O6: Integration and demonstration in three demo-sites in PRIMA countries (Spain, Italy and Turkey) of
MEDITOMATO innovations (O1 to O5) under a whole value chain approach
Specific objectives

5. Specific objectives related to results assessment and maximization of impacts
Objective O7: Microbiological Risk and Impact Analysis. The goal is to perform a qualitative microbiological risk analysis:
(a) to identify hazards and potential sources of contamination; (b) to examine the possible impact of new technologies,
production processes and/or growing conditions; and (c) to identify effective preventive controls to improve the safety of fresh
products and apply them to each demo-site.
Objective O8: Analysis of the status of the food supply chains: quantification of the techno-economic, environmental (through
life cycle analysis, LCA) and social (through social LCA, S-LCA) benefits of the solutions deployed in each site and study of
the feasibility for the Mediterranean countries with simulation of business cases in other PRIMA countries for replication of
the project after MEDITOMATO execution.
This analysis will cover other countries (Greece, Tunisia, Italy and Spain) and also other crops where replication of
MEDITOMATO solutions is technoeconomically feasible
Objective O9: Dissemination, communication and awareness raising across the PRIMA countries and exploitation of results to
maximize impacts of MEDITOMATO.
Specific objectives

6. Concepts and assumptions underpinning the project
Main sketch of MEDITOMATO including work packages, solutions deployed, demo-sites and
replication cases.
Spain
Spain
Spain Spain Greece
Greece
Solution 1: Vis-NIR for real time quality monitoring (online and portable). Sensor
systems will be developed by TEKN (Spain) in collaboration with CNTA (Spain)
Solution 2: Food Traceability System (FTS) along distribution and processing of
vegetables
Solution 3: Irrigation management
Solution 4: Fertilise Management
Solution 5: Global web platform for data analysis in cloud for optimization of
production and distribution
● MEDITOMATO is based on the analysis of project
requirements (WP2) to then develop a series of solutions
(Sol. 1 to 5) which are the foundations of the project (IoT
for fertigation, NIR, a web platform in cloud with data
analysis and a food traceability system).
● All these innovations will be demonstrated in three
demosites (Spain, Italy and Turkey) which comprise
different tomato varieties, cultivation approaches and
climates to obtain representative results.
● In parallel, health and safety procedures assessments, LCA
and social LCA and dissemination tasks to involve food
value chain around demo-sites will be carried out.
● Finally, the project will carry out some replication cases
(studies) to assess the economic feasibility of replication of
MEDITOMATO concepts after project execution.
-
Spain

7. Replication cases (studies): Greece, Tunisia, Italy and Spain
Spain
Italy
Greece
Tunisia
Turkey
Concepts and assumptions underpinning the project

8. MEDITOMATO methodology, relation to the WPs and the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) increases expected in the project.
Methodology of MEDITOMATO to achieve project goals

9. List of work packages
Work plan — Work packages, deliverables
RCS: Regulations, codes and standards
LCA: Life Cycle Analysis
SLCA : Social Life Cycle Analysis

10. - WP7 will include the real demonstration of the
technologies developed (WP3 and 4) and integrated in
WP5 with the execution of a monitoring plan with data
collection to measure operation parameters and KPIs
with the aim of comparing them with those delivered in
WP2. In WP7, life cycle assessment (LCA), social
LCA and economic assessments will take place
throught the data collected as part of the monitoring
plan, which allows to measure the real socio-economic
and environmental benefits of the project.
WP6 and WP7 will start jointly.
- WP6 will perform a health and
safety analysis focused on
microbiological risks to measure the
impacts of MEDITOMATO on this
matter as well as to propose new
procedures and protocols to improve
safety along the value chain.
WP8 will be executed to perform a market assessment
in the Mediterranean countries, elaborate a general
business model and develop replication cases in specific
locations. A roadmap for replication of MEDITOMATO
solutions will be elaborated considering all PRIMA
countries as well as other crops.
Work plan — Work packages, deliverables
The project will start with WP2, specifically with the assessment of technical,
economic, social and environmental constrains for the deployment of
MEDITOMATO concepts and the simulation of expected benefits to obtain a set
of detailed specifications to guide the project.
After that, WP3 and WP4 will start in parallel to develop the NIR
prototypes as well as to assemble the IoT equipment, develop the
global web platform and build the food traceability system. These
solutions will be then ex-situ validated prior to be sent to the sites
to ensure their appropriate operation.
At this stage, WP5 will start to deploy,
integrate and commission the solutions
developed in WP3 and WP4 in the demo-
sites. In parallel, WP5 will also develop a
monitoring plan to establish the Key
performance indicators (KPIs) and aspects
on which demonstration has to focus
(WP7).
WP9 will develop a disseminaton, communication and
awareness plan continuously updated

11. MEDITOMATO Gantt chart

12. Meetings and locations
Meetings foreseen for each management body in MEDITOMATO and tentative location